1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an optical transmission system for analog or digital signals, and in particular to a system using an externally modulated solid-state laser. Moreover, the invention relates to the cancellation of noise components in the system arising from a number of possible sources such as Brownian motion of charge carriers within the semiconductor laser (white noise) or noise arising from fluctuations in the bias current or the thermal environment of the laser (which varies inversely with frequency and therefore is typically referred to as “1/f” noise).
2. Description of the Related Art
Directly modulating the analog intensity of a light-emitting diode (LED) or semiconductor laser with an electrical signal is considered among the simplest methods known in the art for transmitting analog signals, such as voice and video signals, on optical fibers. Although such analog transmission techniques have the advantage of substantially smaller bandwidth requirements than digital transmission, such as digital pulse code modulation, or analog or pulse frequency modulation, the use of amplitude modulation typically places more stringent requirements on the noise and distortion characteristics of the transmitter.
For these reasons, direct modulation techniques have been used in connection with 1310 nm lasers where the application is to short transmission links that employ fiber optic links with zero dispersion. For applications in metro and long haul fiber transmission links, the low loss of the link requires that externally modulated 1550 nm lasers be used, typically over very long distances (100 km) and high frequencies (over 900 MHz). A limiting factor in such links can be the conversion of residual phase noise from the laser which is converted into amplitude noise via the dispersion present in the fiber link. The present invention is therefore addressed to the problem of providing a simple and low cost system for noise cancellation associated with the phase noise of a laser so that the analog optical output can be used in metro and long haul optical networks, especially for analog transmission of broadband RF signals.
Direct current modulation of lasers is also known for use in digital optical transmission systems such as dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) systems. See, for example, Kartalopoulos, DWDM Networks, Devices, and Technology (IEEE Press, 2003), p. 154.
In addition to the low noise characteristics required for an analog optical transmission system at 1550 nm, the system must be highly linear. Distortion inherent in certain analog transmitters prevents a linear electrical modulation signal from being converted linearly to an optical signal, and instead causes the signal to become distorted. These effects are particularly detrimental to multi-channel video transmission, which requires excellent linearity to prevent channels from interfering with each other. A highly linearized analog optical system has wide application in commercial analog systems, such as broadcast TV transmission, CATV, interactive TV, and video telephone transmission.
As an alternative to direct current modulation, external modulators of a continuous wave (CW) laser are known in the prior art for use in optical transmission systems. U.S. Pat. No. 5,699,179 describes an externally modulated, feedforward linearized analog optical transmitter for reducing the fiber-induced composite second order (CSO) distortion components.
Linearization of optical and other nonlinear transmitters has been studied for some time, but proposed solutions suffer from practical disadvantages. Most applications discussed above have bandwidths which are too large for many practical implementations. Feedforward techniques for linearization require complex system components such as optical power combiners and multiple optical sources. Quasi-optical feedforward techniques suffer from similar complexity problems and further require extremely well matched parts. However as discussed below, feedforward techniques for phase noise cancellation are practical techniques that can be implemented using many well developed technologies.
Prior to the present invention, there has not been an application of a phase modulator coupled to an externally modulated laser for the purpose of canceling phase noise components arising from the various noise sources in the semiconductor structure of the laser. It should be noted that semiconductor lasers exhibit noise in both their amplitude (often referred to as relative intensity noise) and their phase. These noise properties are essentially independent of the lasing wavelength, although the noise can manifest itself differently at different wavelengths in single mode fiber transmission. The primary internal mechanism leading to phase and amplitude noise is spontaneous emission within the active region of the laser. Since spontaneously emitted photons have no particular phase relationship to those photons produced via stimulated emission, both the amplitude and the phase of the resultant optical field are affected. The process of spontaneous emission is well understood and has been shown to be described by a Brownian motion process in which the noise spectrum is essentially constant (white noise) within the frequencies of operation. External to the laser, environmental effects such as micro-phonics, temperature fluctuations, and bias current noise can also produce phase noise in the optical field. These events typically lead to optical phase noise which exhibits a noise spectrum with a “1/f” dependence.
The present invention seeks to minimize the inherent phase noise from the semiconductor laser through feedforward cancellation regardless of the driving mechanism of the noise.